


After the Assassination

by hatebeat



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Dark Brotherhood - Freeform, F/M, Vittoria Vici - Freeform, bound until death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 00:25:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13601631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hatebeat/pseuds/hatebeat
Summary: "You need my strength again, I'll be home."





	After the Assassination

Panting, he climbed the steps to the home nestled at the peak of Markarth. His home, where his wife and children were likely asleep in their beds. His home, where his family slept peacefully, not knowing half the things he had done. There were only a few who truly knew what had happened today, and they were far, far away. He was meant to report back to Astrid. He hadn't even stopped to see if Veezara had made it out of Solitude alive. 

He needed to see _his_ family, not his Brothers.

It was an hour before dawn-- two at most-- but Shadvir had no concept of the time. The stairs he regularly climbed to Vlindrel Hall seemed to stretch on infinitely. A bored city guard stopped him halfway to the top for conversation, but Shadvir trudged on without a glance. 

Not a drop of blood stained his clothing, but he felt downright soiled. 

He faced the great gold doors of his home for several long moments. Nothing felt quite real. It was as if he looked on at himself from the outside. A palm against the door brought a sliver of him back. Cool and familiar. Shadvir inhaled, and pushed them open

Inside was dark. The fire in the sitting room had burned down to embers, and every candle was black. Shadvir stumbled toward his children's bedroom, but he felt too tainted to go inside and check on them. He could hear the sound of their breathing, and that had to be enough. He would... go to bed. Sleep. Certainly, he would feel better in the morning.

Many lives were lost to his bow since his coming to this land, yet he had never before felt so torn.

After eons of standing still, he realised that there was some light still coming from the kitchen. Perhaps Argis had stirred early? The man always seemed to be awake before him, no matter how early Shadvir arose. His feet brought him to the kitchen's entry before he even realised he was moving, and he took a deep breath in the door. Borgakh was there, at the kitchen table. A book was opened on the table in front of her, but Shadvir had never before seen her read for entertainment.

"You're awake," he said, but his voice was little more than a croak. Shadvir cleared his throat, and made his way toward the table, feeling as though he were walking through sand. Finally, he sat, melting into the chair. Ah, was he exhausted? He hadn't felt it until now, hadn't stopped moving since he left Solitude.

"Sleep didn't come easy," she said, "once you sent me away."

"I..." he trailed off. There wasn't much he could say in his defense. It was true-- they traveled everywhere together. Since they'd met, the two had been inseparable. But today was different. 

"I know, I know. You said it was something dangerous. Why you thought I couldn't handle myself, I don't know," Borgakh said gruffly. "But I suppose you thought you had good intentions."

Shadvir remained silent for several moments, staring at the stone of the tabletop. He felt the need to reach out and touch her, to ascertain that she was truly real. The two of them were often quite less than affectionate. They understood each other in their own ways.

"You remember what I told you," he finally said, "the night before we wed?"

A short silence. "The Dark Brotherhood," she conceded. "I remember. I almost had second thoughts about this whole thing when you told me."

While that was somewhat painful to hear, it wasn't something that Shadvir hadn't known. And besides, she still had decided to wed him in the end.

"I had a job today, in Solitude."

"So you didn't wish to murder someone in front of me," Borgakh flatly stated. "I'm not sure why. We've killed together often enough."

"I've never eliminated a target in front of you," Shadvir weakly pointed out. When she had nothing to say to that, he continued. "There have been targets, in the past... whom I have refused to kill. For instance, there's an Orc in Morthal, some singer... I got on well with him, when we met."

"Perhaps you have a soft spot for Orcs. Though I doubt any Orc needs your pity."

Was it pity? Shadvir thought not. And he wondered, since he had not fulfilled the contract, was Lurbuk left unharmed? Had one of his Brothers done the deed in his place? Ah... but it wasn't important, not at the moment. 

"The target today... maybe I should have shown some pity," he said softly. They had done business together, after all. Shadvir had thought Vittoria a braggart when they first met, but she had shown that she could be sympathetic to the plights of those beneath her. They had conversed. She knew him by name. He even owned property adjacent to hers. 

"There may be some... repercussions. She was a public figure."

"I doubt you would have been that careless."

"I wasn't seen," he assured her. Still, it was hard to shake the feeling. "It was at a public ceremony. A wedding ceremony."

"That woman Vici?" Borgakh leaned back, surprised. She was intelligent enough to put the pieces together. Shadvir liked that about her. "You murdered that one?"

"It was just a job," Shadvir said, convincing himself. 

"Well," said Borgakh, "I don't think the Empire has suffered a great loss. She wasn't a pleasant woman, from what I saw of her."

Shadvir offered a small nod. He was beginning to feel the fringes of life returning to his fingertips. But even still, he remembered the screams as the shaft of an arrow appeared in Vittoria's forehead. It wouldn't take a scholar to figure out the direction it had come from, to pinpoint Shadvir's location. Perhaps he _was_ seen escaping.

He moved his hand a few inches, but it may as well have been a few leagues. Finally his fingertips rested upon the back of Borgakh's hand.

"If anything should happen to me, see that the children are safe," he said quietly. They wouldn't want for anything, even if he disappeared. They'd have a home and wealth. Surely the authorities wouldn't target children. He couldn't make Borgakh promise to take care of them forever; they weren't hers, by blood. But to at least get them to safety, that much he felt he could ask.

To his surprise, Borgakh scoffed. 

"To hell with that." She turned her hand, letting their palms kiss. "They'd have to cut me down to get through to you."

A ghost of a smile flitted over Shadvir's lips. Ah, he truly was exhausted, wasn't he?

"Mm." He spent a minute just feeling the warmth of her hand. "...You nearly called off our marriage?"

Borgakh withdrew her hand, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I was taught to obey Malacath. It goes against the Code to kill needlessly. For necessity, yes. For honor, certainly. Killing indiscriminately from the shadows as you do is foreign and barbaric to me."

"But in my Tribe, my skills are highly prized," Shadvir pointed out. A necessity in most parts of Valenwood, if truth be told, but not for acts of murder. The hunt was an essential part of a Bosmer's upbringing.

"That's hard for me to imagine."

"Yet," Shadvir continued, "you went through with it after all."

Borgakh was no longer looking at him. Orcs were very direct with their words, but much less so with their feelings. It was a difficult path to tread. 

"I had already left my family. I had already chosen to walk a different path. I might not condone everything you do, but I can respect our differences for the most part."

Shadvir pushed himself to his feet, beginning to feel life returning to him. He knew there were questions he needed to ask himself, issues he'd need to deal with. It couldn't all be solved in a conversation. However. 

He placed a hand on Borgakh's shoulder, and leaned close to press his lips to her cheek.

"I'll be glad to sleep by your side tonight," he said. Though true every night, it was truer on this night.


End file.
